UK evolving natural landscapes Flashcards
Give 2 examples of soft engineering. And describe them
- Floodplain retention
levels of floodplain lowered and surfaces restored to shrub and grass lands - River channel restoration
can include the following strategy:
- rebuilding meanders
- lowering banks
- removing hard engineering
Name 4 economic impacts of the Sheffield floods
- over 1000 businesses affected
- Hillsbourgh football stadium was flooded
- one companies lost 15 million in flood damages
- roads were damages or blocked were flooded for some days
Name 4 social impacts of the Sheffield floods
- 2 people drowned into flood waters
- over 1200 homes were damaged
- 1300 people were without power for 2 days
- Medohall shopping centre was flooded and had to be closed for a week
what are the 4 types of river erosion and 4 types of river transport
Erosion prosses
- hydronic action
- alliteration
- solution
- abrasion
transportation processes
- saltation
- solution
- traction
- suspension
what is a hydrograph
A hydrograph shows how a river is affected by a storm. This helps to understand discharge patterns of a particular drainage basin and helps to predict flooding and plan flood prevention measures.
What are the characteristics of the upper course
high vegetation
steep river gradients
steep slops
large sediment
narrow channel
shallow water
permeable surfaces
what caused the Sheffield floods
heavy rainfall
an abundance of rivers and valleys
urban isolation
impermeable surfaces
how did humans factors increase Sheffield’s flood risk
there were more impermeable surfaces so the rain do the lag time was shorter and the peak discharge was higher
the drains were blocked more water caused flood in the streets
how do V shaped Valleys from?
- vertical erosion this is because there’s little
energy because of a low discharge - the valleys sides left behind are slowly broken
down though apposes of weathering - this erosion levels behind a narrow steep
sided valley
Define a long profile
Long profiles depict how a river’s slope changes across the 3 courses of the river
what is the difference between hard engineering and soft engineering
hard engineering solutions
- where solutions are built to defend against floods
soft engineering solutions
- adapting to flood risks and allowing natural processes to deal with rain water
List the 3 types of rock found in Brittan and give 3 examples
Igneous - cooled lava/magma e.g. granite, basalt
Sedimentary- compressed sediment e.g. chalk, limestone, clay, sandstone
Metamorphic- when stones are simi-melted and cooled e.g. slate, schist, marble
how do waterfalls form?
where in a river can you find them
- water falls over soft and hard rock
- soft rock erodes forming plunge pools
- hard rock is undercut and falls into the plunge pool
- the waterfall retreats creating a gorge
waterfalls can be found only in the upper course
what are the characteristics of the lower course
- deep water
- flood plain
- fine substrate
- wide
- brackish water
- suspension
what are the characteristics of the middle course
- inner bend = slowest flow
- outer bend = fastest flow
- slip off slop
- meander
- river cliff
- deep water